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Archive for the ‘Plum Farm development’ Category

Plum

Hoffman Estates trustees on Monday approved construction of sewer and water utilities enabling development of the 185-acre Plum Farms property northwest of Higgins Road and Route 59. This view looks south toward Higgins Road, with Old Sutton Road at the center of the image.( Joe Lewnard | Staff Photographer, 2019)

Hoffman Estates officials Monday approved the construction of sewer and water utilities enabling the long-sought development of the 185-acre Plum Farms property at the northwest corner of Higgins Road and Route 59.

The site lies directly west of The Arboretum of South Barrington shopping center but has lacked the infrastructure needed to continue such development west along Higgins Road.

The right of the landowners to build utility connections was granted by an annexation and development agreement six years ago. But since then other preparations needed to be made, such as the negotiation of easements with neighboring property owners including the Hoffman Estates Park District and Canadian National Railway.

Though a 40-acre tax increment financing district was approved in 2020 to potentially provide some financial assistance in building utilities with property tax funds, there is not yet a specific agreement about which costs the district could reimburse, Hoffman Estates Director of Development Services Peter Gugliotta said.

A separate building permit is also needed to construct the utilities, which the landowner must apply for within a year of Monday night’s approval.

Construction of the utilities would probably take only two or three months from the time work starts, Gugliotta estimated.

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RCBH-logo-4-768x421

The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold their regular monthly meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 7:00 PM.  A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.

Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.

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BHPD New Masthead

The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold their, “Annual Budget and Appropriation Hearing,” via Zoom and in person this evening at 6:45 PM. A copy of their agenda absent of any financial information can be viewed here.

At 7:00 PM, the District will be conducting their regular monthly meeting. A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.

The Park District is located at 361 Bateman Road. Information on how to join the Zoom meetings tonight can be found here.

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PP

The Penny Road Pub, a staple for food, drink and live music in South Barrington for nearly 50 years, will close Jan. 31. A “Farewell to Penny Road” concert is scheduled for Jan. 22.

Penny Road Pub, a live rock ‘n’ roll venue nestled among the trees of the Barrington area for nearly 50 years, will close its doors at the end of January.

But General Manager Kelly Cunningham said Monday that the shutdown may not be permanent. The building’s relatively new owner hopes to buy time to work with Cook County on getting the property rezoned for the improvements he wants to make, she said.

I things work out as planned, Penny Road Pub could return but even better, she said.

“There is hope,” Cunningham added. “He has some beautiful plans for it.”

The combination of a new owner along with the loss of some of the property’s grandfathered rights, COVID-19 and the cost of the planned improvements have created financial issues that make it easier to shut down and handle one thing at a time, Cunningham said.

The pub’s grandfathered 4 a.m. liquor license probably won’t return, as Cook County doesn’t give them out anymore, she added.

“That was our bread-and-butter, so to speak, for many years,” Cunningham said.

The news of the imminent closing was announced on social media Sunday.

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CRG Residental

This rendering shows one of the six apartment buildings CRG Residential is proposing for the northwest corner of Higgins and Old Sutton roads as part of the Plum Farms development in Hoffman Estates. This building closest to the corner would be among those also including some ground-floor retail space.

Hoffman Estates officials expressed informal support Monday for a six-building apartment complex with some retail space to kick off construction of the long-delayed Plum Farms development at the northwest corner of Higgins Road and Route 59.

But they also urged developers to keep aware of the floodplain that overlaps the sprawling property during installation of underground utilities as well as surface construction.

CRG Residential of Carmel, Indiana, sought the courtesy review from the village board’s planning, building and zoning committee for 310 apartments spread among the six buildings specifically on the tax-increment finance district at the northwest corner of Higgins and Old Sutton roads.

Three of the buildings would be three stories, while the other three would be four stories. The ground floors of some of the buildings would also provide commercial space totaling about 14,000 square feet, including at the corner itself.

Representatives of CRG Residential suggested that commercial space might find such uses as an eatery or coffee shop as well as a medical or dental office.

The current owners of the 185 acres that make up the Plum Farms development also have plans for a self-storage facility along the railroad tracks at the western edge of the property.

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PC 9.21

The Plan Commission will be holding a special meeting this evening at 6:30 PM. Some of the topics on their agenda include:

  • Plan Commission Introduction, Duties and Code Requirements
  • Lot Consolidation Application: 266 Steeplechase (Public hearing followed by commission meeting/vote), and
  • Plum Farms

A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.  The meeting will be held at Village Hall, or residents can try to listen in to the meeting proceedings by dialing 508-924-1464.

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Plum Farms

The Executive Director of the Hoffman Estates Park District will be providing a report on Plum Farms this evening to the BHPD Commissioners.

The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold their regular monthly meeting this evening in-person and via Zoom at 7:00 PM.  Some of the topics on their agenda include:

  • Hoffman Estates Park District Executive Director report on Plum Farms
  • Motion to adopt and approve a Sexual Harassment Policy
  • New outdoor arena, motion to proceed with bidding process
  • Purchase of trees & shrubs for the Riding Center grounds
  • Footing complaints affecting all arenas, and
  • The need for final footing authority?

A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.

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The Arboretum of South Barrington is facing a foreclosure lawsuit amid widespread economic pressure on the retail and hospitality industries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the lawsuit filed in Cook County circuit court in September, UnionBank states that the owners of The Arboretum didn’t pay interest on the property’s $67.2 million mortgage and didn’t pay off the debt when it matured in April, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

The 480,000-square-foot outdoor shopping center at Higgins Road and Route 59 is listed as part of the portfolio of Starwood Retail Partners, a division of Starwood Capital Group.

Starwood Retail Partners and UnionBank didn’t return requests for comment Wednesday.

“Unfortunately we have no comment,” said a woman who answered The Arboretum’s customer service number.

South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie said she had no firsthand knowledge of the lawsuit but was informed Wednesday morning that The Arboretum has a court-appointed receiver. That person is Mike Zucker, managing partner of Peak Properties, based in Chicago.

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This is an artist’s rendering of one of the seven apartment buildings planned for the Plum Farms development at the northwest corner of routes 59 and 72. A Cook County judge last month dismissed a lawsuit Barrington Unit District 220 filed over the proposal.

Barrington Unit District 220 won’t challenge a Cook County circuit court judge’s decision last month to dismiss a lawsuit the school system filed against Hoffman Estates and developers of the stalled Plum Farms proposal at the northwest corner of routes 59 and 72. Hoffman Estates’ development agreement limits Plum Farms to 1,250 homes of various types. The most recent plan submitted by a development partnership calls for 1,035.

But the last indication of progress on Plum Farms was interrupted by the filing of a lawsuit in July 2017 by residents of the nearby Regency at the Woods of South Barrington retirement community.

District 220 intervened in the complaint on the side of the residents, with the developer and village named as defendants. The density of the proposed development and the potential for additional students’ costs to exceed the increase in tax revenue were at the heart of the school district’s concerns.

While the residents’ original lawsuit was settled last summer, District 220 kept its part of the case active until it was dismissed in December. School board President Penny Kazmier announced at a meeting Tuesday night that the district will not pursue any further legal action in the case.

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Hoffman Estates village board members voted 6-1 Monday to approve a tax incentive to spark economic development on 64 acres along the village’s stretch of Higgins Road west of The Arboretum of South Barrington shopping center.

A larger, 185-acre area of the same site at the northwest corner of Higgins Road and Route 59 has been the subject of the concept plan for the controversial Plum Farms mixed-use development that’s been idle for the past 2½ years since a lawsuit was filed over its residential density.

That lawsuit was originally filed by residents of the nearby Regency of the Woods of South Barrington retirement community. After Barrington Unit District 220 intervened in the suit on the side of the residents, the retirement community settled its portion.

Last month, District 220’s own lingering case was dismissed by a judge based on a legal precedent. But at its next meeting on Jan. 14, school the board intends to choose among its options to file a motion for reconsideration, file a notice of appeal or let the judge’s ruling lie, Superintendent Brian Harris said.

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